Tranquilize
by Stephane Richer
Summary: Live it down, baby, don't talk that much


Tranquilize

Disclaimer: I don't own "Tranquilize" by the Killers or _Kuroko no Basuke_ by Tatadoshi Fujimaki.

* * *

There's a mouse caught in one of the traps. It's not a glue trap; Midorima can't see it writhing about in its own waste. It's got to be a box trap or one of those circular traps. He should have known better than to let the salesman sell him all those different kinds (but then again, he wouldn't shut up until he'd sold him at least five). He shouldn't have set so many down in one place. He's not about to go through all of them and figure out which one has the mouse, and after all, what's he going to do with it? He can't take it out and kill it; it will escape. Even he is not fast enough for the small creature.

It's also a comfort. He's alone in the dark, with just the rain and the glow of the computer screen to keep him company (there's so much to study, always, even as a practicing doctor). The mouse is a reminder that there's other life out there, even if it's annoying as hell. He'll have to bring it out with the trash in the morning, replace the old trap with another open-air glue trap so he can tell, so he can kill the next mouse easily after it's been captured.

Hopefully, there won't be a next mouse. Maybe he should just get a cat, but some nights he doesn't come home and he's really not sure if he can bear responsibility for another life right now, even though he doesn't care for cats in general. So the lives of mice, barely intersecting with his, are okay. They can live and rage against their cages and die and he can sit here, reading, alone, isolated. What's the difference, really?

Besides, he's got to leave for his awkward late-night/early-morning shift, where he gets all the drunk drivers and gang fight victims soon. With any luck, the mouse will have suffocated or died of exhaustion or at least be too tired to scream when he returns.

* * *

The music is grating, jarring, and no matter how much he drinks he still can't lose himself. The music just keeps pulling him back and forth, in towards his inner being. And the ladies just keep handing him drinks, dancing with him for a bit, keeping him occupied, petting his hair.

People are jealous of him. Of course they are; who wouldn't be? He's Kise Ryouta—charming, handsome, rich, and famous. But all levity aside, this jealousy can be scary. Or at least, intimidating. He's rumoured to be dating a new girl every week, and every week some fan's hopes of being with his idol are crushed a bit more.

How this all leads to that kind of insanity, he'll never know. Maybe he'll never have time to think about it, because as soon as he steps outside of the club for a breath of fresh air they stab him.

* * *

It turns out the mouse actually is on a glue trap (or maybe it just escaped the other trap; he thought he heard cracking). He turns on the light so he can find his way to the kitchen and refill his glass of water when he sees the grey-brown thing writhing and squealing (do mice derive pleasure from this? Glue traps have such a funny, half-sterile smell to them). He can only see it from this awkward angle, as the trap is pushed under the radiator but the shadows play out on the other wall and are suspicious enough to warrant a second glance. With a sigh, he fills up the glass and grabs an old newspaper and a pair of shoes.

* * *

He's just barely arrived when they need him. A young man, mid-twenties, needs surgery for a deep stab wound in his side. He may have a brain injury, too, but they'll check out the x-rays and figure everything else out while the surgery is going on. Right now, this is the most important.

Midorima slides the gloves on over his bandaged and non-bandaged hands (old habits are hard to break, and all doctors have their eccentricities). The young man looks quite familiar but there's no time to dwell on that when they have a knife to remove. The blood is gushing; luckily they've prepared for that. In his pocket, the lucky orange dice clack.

The surgery goes smoothly, of course.

* * *

When he wakes up, he can't believe who's sitting in the room with his agent, going over medical terms that he can't figure out.

"Midorimacchi!" He tries to get out of bed but the throbbing pain in his side and head just make him collapse. The heart monitor next to him (why did he need one? All they did was knife him) goes haywire.

"Please, control yourself, Kise. And address me as sensei."

Kise obeys the first part, and manages to place himself in a more dignified upright position. He's still pouting, however. "Don't be so mean, Midorimacchi…" he whines.

Midorima really, _really_ wishes he could tell Kise to die right now, but that wouldn't exactly be appropriate. Instead, he just sighs. "Well, Ishida-san, it looks like he's back to normal. Just as annoying as he always was."

Ishida, Kise's agent, is a still a bit perplexed. "How, exactly, do you two know one another?"

* * *

Despite Midorima's insistent claims that he and Kise were never, ever the "best of friends, totally inseparable" he can't politely refuse Kise's invitation to dinner sometime after he gets better. Besides, Kise has such a busy schedule he'll probably forget about it and have no way to fit it in.

Of course, it doesn't work that way at all.

Several months after fixing up Kise, Midorima catches three mice on one glue trap and learns that today's lucky item is a cat collar. This coincidence leads him to decide to go to the nearest pet shop and kill two birds with one stone (so to speak. He'd rather have someone or something else kill those damn mice for him). He picks out the fanciest collar and is looking at the cats when, of course, Kise shows up, alone this time.

"Midorimacchi! Why are you here?"

"I'm buying a cat."

"Oh? What kind of cat would suit Midorimacchi best?"

"I'm looking for a mouser." This is directed at the bored-looking teenage shop worker, who only shrugs.

"This one, this one! It's so cute!" He's pointing to a grey tabby.

"Cat's aren't _cute_, Kise."

As if to prove Midorima's point, the cat hisses at Kise's outstretched finger and tries to reach his paw out of the cage and scratch it.

"Yes, I think I'll take that one," Midorima says to the worker, who looks a bit scared of having to handle that particular cat. After he pays for the cat and all the cat stuff he needs and leaves the store, Kise continues to follow him around.

"Weren't you in the pet shop for a reason?" he asks pointedly.

"I thought I saw a paparazzo. Plus, we haven't talked in a long time!"

"Should we be talking?" He's really not in the mood for Kise's dramatic antics now.

Surprisingly, Kise gets the hint and shuts up until they get back to Midorima's apartment.

"Goodbye, Kise."

"You're not going to let me in?"

"No."

"Okay!" Kise grabs Midorima's keys (he's still quite agile) and lets himself in. The cat is quite grateful to be let out of its carrier, and immediately hides under a table.

"Hey, what are you going to name your kitty?"

"It doesn't need a name."

"Okay, I'll decide! How about Sasuke?"

Kise seems to take Midorima's silence for an affirmative, and attempts to coax the cat out from under the table. Eventually, he gives up and returns to talking to (at?) Midorima.

"So! When are we having dinner?"

"Don't you have work?"

"Not every night! And Midorimacchi works late nights, I checked, so we'll have some time."

Who the hell would tell that guy anything about his schedule? Midorima makes a note to keep a careful eye on the people he works with.

"Okay, how about now?" Midorima asks. Might as well get this over with.

"Yeah, sure! Got any place in mind?"

They go down the block to a place with good curry. It's actually…okay. Midorima expects to be annoyed more than he actually is. He suspects it's not because his memory is exaggerating or because Kise himself has gotten less annoying, but rather because of his recent lack of human contact. His patients are unconscious for the most part. He speaks with families briefly, but never learns much about them. His coworkers are a mystery to him.

But Kise is familiar. Kise talks way too much and is way too cheerful, but it's somehow reassuring.

* * *

They're tipsy on cheap beer, and Kise's giggling way more than he usually does, grabbing onto Midorima for support. Midorima had to pick up the tab even though Kise claimed this would be his treat ("but I guess I owe you one, no, wait, two," Kise had slurred and Midorima had been kind of agreeable to this, almost) but he isn't really annoyed about that. Kise's hand falls down from Midorima's shoulder to his hand and grabs it, and doesn't let go.

They're in the elevator when Kise kisses him, full-on and desperate. There are a million questions Midorima wants to ask (suddenly, he is the less-doing-more-talking one) but he stifles them all and kisses back because what the hell.

* * *

Kise tries to make good on his promise another time by spontaneously dropping by Midorima's apartment.

"I should have never let you find out where I live," he grumbles.

This time, he "forgets" his wallet again but Midorima sees right through that. He grumbles but his heart's not in it. This time they're not drunk, though.

Midorima is fully aware of the scar on Kise's side, which still looks raw and painful. He hasn't done a topless shoot in these past few months, although he's still raking in the dough. The would looks very beautiful to Midorima, and to Kise as well.

"Because Midorimacchi helped make it," Kise whispers as Midorima traces the outline with his tongue.

It's so cheesy and so incredibly Kise, that Midorima can't help but grin and move up and kiss Kise on the lips again, still grinning, He can feel Kise's hard cock throb against him, and it only makes him grin harder.

This time, they're not too drunk to finish what they started, climaxing together and staying in a sticky embrace, shifting so that Kise's head is in the crook of Midorima's arm and they rest. Midorima is late for work, but he doesn't really care. Today's horoscope says that changing a routine will be helpful.

* * *

And gradually, Kise stays over for longer and longer periods of time. He retires from the modeling world to become a fashion writer, stuffs his trunkloads of clothes into Midorima's apartment. Sasuke the cat becomes fat, ridding the household of mice for good. Midorima eventually gets a better work schedule. They're all complete.


End file.
